The Minority in Parliament is demanding an explanation from the Majority leadership as to why questions scheduled for the Finance Minister were not included in today’s order paper.
According to the schedule for the week, Ken Ofori-Atta was scheduled to answer 12 questions on the economy from Members of Parliament.
However, the aforementioned questions have not been tabled as part of the day’s business.
Kwame Agbodza, Ranking Member of the Roads Committee, is outraged by the development.
The Finance Minister was also accused of disrespecting Parliament, according to the Adaklu legislator.
The minister is avoiding answering questions from the House of Commons because he lacks credible answers.
“The Finance Minister has the worst record of a Minister appearing in Parliament to answer questions posed by members,” he told Joy News Parliamentary correspondent Parker Wilson.
“From what I hear, the Finance Minister does not appear to be concerned or committed to the fact that Members of Parliament want to ask questions,” he added.
Frank Annor-Dompreh, the Majority Chief Whip, has been holding a brief for the Minister in question.
According to the Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP, the Minister wrote to the House indicating that he will be unavailable today because he is still gathering facts and data on the questions posed.
In a related development, the Finance Minister is expected to address Ghanaians today at 1:00pm on specific measures taken by the government to get the economy back on track.
He is expected to highlight the outcome of the cabinet’s three-day retreat at Peduase Lodge over the weekend.
However, the Adaklu MP insists that this involvement does not preclude Mr Ofori-Atta from appearing on the floor because the responses demanded by Parliament are identical to what the Minister intends to say.
We filed the questions before he decided to speak to the media today, so it couldn’t be that he is free to talk about whatever he wants today. Because the questions we have for him on this floor would have elicited nearly everything he wants to say at the Ministry,” he explained.
He sees it as a display of disrespect, and says his party will demand answers from the Majority and leadership about why the plan was changed.
Some of the reliefs to be announced include the reopening of land borders, the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, and measures to stop the cedi’s depreciation.
Ghana’s current public debt stock is staggering at 341.8 billion, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 77 percent as of September 2021.
This means that if the country distributes this amount among its 30.8 million people, everyone will owe around $11,000 each.
